Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Objectified

So... Last evening we watched "Objectified," a film about design on PBS' Independent Lens and it was pretty danged cool.  I went to the web site to see if there was a trailer I could embed in this post but, alas... there wasn't.  And more's the pity, because the film is fascinating.  Here's a quote from the web site:
Look around you. Within five feet of you are dozens—if not hundreds—of manufactured products that you interact with every day. If you are at work, perhaps there is a laptop, a stapler, a No. 2 pencil, a paperclip, a mobile phone, a coffee mug, a pushpin or an ergonomic chair. At home there may be a flat-screen TV, a pair of boots, a razor or a kitchen utensil. All told, we each touch or otherwise interact with an average of 600 manufactured objects every day.

"Objectified" concerns itself with contemporary industrial design and says nothing about the great designers, schools of design (e.g., movements, like Bauhaus or Art Deco),  or design houses that have gone before and that's about the only criticism I have of the film.  But I suppose you have to limit your subject matter when you're tackling a subject as broad as this. The film was absorbing and is highly recommended, and not just for design junkies, either.  Just as a teaser... Mac and iPhone owners will be most pleased with their great good taste.  There are clips from the show at the link, or you can just wait for your PBS station to re-run it.  They always do...
Now that we have the oh-so-amateur critic gig out of the way... The film's web site comes with this spiffy lil quiz that purports to show which iconic design object you are.  Or maybe the object you wanna be; you choose.  The web site's designers apparently don't know jack about internet quiz memes, coz there's no embeddable code to show your result and prompt others to take the quiz.  Not only that... there's no ability to cut 'n' paste text containing your results as they're displayed as images.  You have to take a screen shot if you wanna display your results.  Which I do, of course.  I mean... why else would one do this if not to share?

Pretty damned close, all things considered.  I DO like skinny ties, and I DO own a trilby hat.  And there's our daily Happy Hour, of course, along with our determination to remain unemployed for-frickin'-ever.  I am just about as sophisticated as anyone who lives in a trailer park possibly can be, and that's the truth (can I get a big "heh?").  But... I'm "nostalgic about an era in which I wasn't even alive?"  Hunh?  How do they know this?  Baby, I LIVED most of the damned scenarios in the questions and still do for the most part (kinda sorta). 

This question nearly tripped me up, though:
A toughie, that one.  I mentally flipped a coin to choose between HST and Steve McQueen.  Actually, not... I decided I'd rather go riding with McQueen then have cocktails and dinner (and stuff) with HST.  With Julia Child in the kitchen, Martha as her sous chef, and Sinatra crooning for us.  Hell, come to think on it... wouldn't the list in its entirety make for one helluva dinner party?

Take the quiz.  It's fun and some of the questions might cause you to think just a lil bit.  Report back. 

23 comments:

  1. Coca-Cola bottle. Reliable.

    Sigh.

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  2. I am a viewmaster - creating my own adventure. My dinner question - Neil Armstrong.

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  3. I watched it also Buck, couldn't stop actually.

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  4. Oh. The dinner question, I said Elvis. For me that's an "of course"!!

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  5. Ah - as a new iMAC user I'll take my good taste thankyouverymuch! :-)

    I'm a Vespa. I'm an urbane cosmopolitan. I enjoy the simple, sophisticated things: Roman holidays, spectacularly dry martinis, understand Tiffany accoutrements and a classic little black dress or tuxedo. I am confident, independent and disdainful of conspicuous consumption and bling.

    Um - not bad but way off on a coupla things. Don't like Martinis (prefer a big ole red wine) and bling? Please - I make my own jewelry for goodness' sake!

    I do rather like the idea of being urbane...whatever that is.

    Dinner question: I did choose Steve McQueen because I figured why would it stop at dinner? Drinks, dinner and an after-dinner rip in a hot 'Stang.

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  6. "You are a Coca-Cola bottle

    You enjoy your creature comforts and familiarity, and you are loyal to a fault. You sometimes pine for a simpler time and a slower pace. While you don’t take inordinate amount of risks or try a lot of new things , that’s part of what makes you lovable You are the type of person other people have as their emergency contact. You’re just that reliable."

    My dinner question was a toss-up between McQueen & Ol' Blue Eyes. I went with Frank.

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  7. All y'all are good sports! I assume you're satisfied with your results? Well, except for Kath, that is, who's also dining on peanut butter and nanner samidges. ;-)

    I took the quiz again and lied my ass off, answering 180 out from the first time through and came out a Polaroid Camera, aka a social butterfly with hundreds of friends and dozens of acquaintances... truly my opposite.

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  8. View-Master.

    I would like to be a Lighthouse keeper! Just keep me stocked with food and beer.

    Dinner with Frank. If he likes you, you're in!

    I was amused by the Lotto question, since I already have the Rolex (Terrible time keeper vs my Casio) so I said I would travel the world.

    Concur with Buckster; These quizzes are not representative of who we really are.

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  9. Well, the Coca-Cola bottle sounded a bit boring, I thought. But -- well, then maybe I am. (Really? Geez.)

    Andy, are we boring? Naah, not a chance, huh?

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  10. Kath, I'm glad you asked.

    Yes.

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  11. Hands on hips, foot tapping -- Are you SURE? Oh, maaaannn. Darn!

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  12. I've never even heard of Hunter S Thompson. You'll have to clue me in there please

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  13. Buck, you got my interest piqued...so I went back and did it intentionally wrong.

    "You are a hybrid car

    You enjoy spending lavishly on "feel good" purchases, and making it known to others. You look down on others that do not have your vast resources. You often hope for outcomes that shall never be realized. Because you flaunt your insipid liberalism, sane people think you are a real a-hole. That's part of what makes you the repugnant jackass that you are.

    You are the type of person that thinking people have deleted from their address book, and pray that you have lost yours."

    BTW, I chose as my dinner guest, Martha Stewart.

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  14. Ali: Hunter S. Thompson is a minor hero of mine or he used to be, at any rate. If you chase the link you'll notice he's credited as being the founder... and also the chief practitioner of... "gonzo journalism." He was also one of the BEST things About Rolling Stone magazine, back in the day when I subscribed to that rag. His series... "Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail," all about the 1972 US presidential campaign... is just about the best descriptive series on US politics, ever. He was also famous for consuming prodigious quantities of illicit substances, as well, and died by his own hand a few years back.

    Darryl: I gotta revise my opinion on this quiz, based on Andy's 180-out results. About which...

    Andy: That's the funniest damned thing I've read in a long time! I take it all back: sometimes these quiz thingies nail it to a tee.

    And as for your brief dialog with Kath... if you guys are boring then I gotta be dead.

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  15. "You are a Rubik's Cube

    You are decidedly left-brained! You could solve a trigonometric formula with your eyes closed, but struggled with diagramming sentences in grade school. You didn't run with the popular crowd in high school, but you went to the reunion because now you make more than all of them combined. If you're not an actual rocket scientist, it's only because you didn't want to limit your options."

    Wow. Some of the flattering stuff is news to me, especially the thing about making more than all of them combined. But it's spot-on in describing my weaknesses, that's for sure.

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  16. Well Buck, I don't really know Kath. I figured she was unknowingly dialoging with the other Andy...it's confusing, I know.

    But, any gal that writes, "Hands on hips, foot tapping -- Are you SURE? Oh, maaaannn. Darn!" can't be too danged boring...

    So, I'll just take a "JUST ME, Kath" on that one.

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  17. BTW: mkfreeberg, MwaMwaMwaMwahahahahahahahahahaha!

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  18. I'm a Coca-Cola bottle, too. Andy posted the description, so I need not repeat it. The description fits, hands down.

    I picked dinner with McQueen. I'm sure he drank beer with his chow.

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  19. I'm a Volkswagen Beetle. *snerk*

    I'm apparently an idealist, politically progressive, yet off the grid come election time. Hmmm.

    Dunno if I agree with that description, but I like the shiny blue beetle they used as the pic.

    Oh, and I chose Neil Armstrong as my dinner date.

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  20. Viewmaster here, too. I can't think of why that would be - it's not like I'm curious or like cameras or anything...

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  21. And Kath, don't sell reliability too short there ;-)

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  22. That would be one hell of a bitchin party, my man!!!!!!!!!!!!! And then some. Some years ago around my baby sister's wedding in ElJebel Colorado, Dad was in the Woody Creek Tavern on CO Hwy 82 with Thompson and Jack Nicholson. Dad was in Korea, Quemoy and Vietnam. Guess who won and didn't pay for one drink at all? And the first two guesses don't count!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  23. Morgan: You've added more fuel to the fire about how accurate this one is. As for "making more"... c'mon. We ALL know coders make the Big Bucks! ;-)

    BR: All the Good Guys have beer with dinner. Or before!

    Christina: Now I'm wonderin' just how many "types" there are! I can see the idealist bits, but the progressive politics thins is lost on me. If that's true you hide it well.

    Jeff: I'm not surprised at your "object," either. And you're right about reliability.

    Glenn: I envy your Dad, and that's classic UNDERSTATEMENT. That said, I'm not at all sure I could have kept up with HST, even in my prime. But I sure as Hell would have loved to try...

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Just be polite... that's all I ask.